The present invention relates to support racks, and more particularly to support racks that mount to a wall and provide removable support for sports equipment.
Sports equipment storage racks are known in the art. A representative known storage rack, shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,643,317, is particularly adapted for supporting tennis rackets and other accessories of the game of tennis. That representative known storage rack is a combination of a fixed frame and a basket, the fixed frame being attachable to a wall and removably supporting the basket. The fixed frame includes a mounting plate, the mounting plate supports a plurality of forwardly projecting horizontal segments, and two pairs of the horizontal segments define two tennis racket hooks while a single horizontal segment defines a basket hook. The basket includes a long handle extending up from the basket bottom, the handle has a grip, and the grip has a hole for removably receiving the basket hook.
The sports equipment support rack of the present invention is an improvement over the sports equipment storage racks of the prior art. This sports equipment storage rack has both a fixed frame and a removable basket which provide removable support for the equipment of a greater variety of sports. Thus, athletes who enjoy multiple sports can store their multi-sport equipment on just this one rack. In contrast, since the prior art storage racks typically are specially adapted for a single sport, those same athletes would need multiple prior art racks at a greater expense and inconvenience. For households with several athletes who have different sporting interests, their collective needs for a support rack can be met by this rack of the present invention.
Another advantage of this support rack is that it includes a removable hoop and hook assembly. The hoop and hook assembly is selectively formed to have a horizontal ring portion for removably supporting a ball such as a basketball, soccer ball, volleyball, or the like. The hoop and hook assembly further includes protruding hooks from which articles can be hung. The hoop and hook assembly is optionally removable and interchangeable with the basket.
Another advantage of this support rack is that the fixed frame has two sets of basket retaining hooks. Normally, one set is used for retaining the basket while the other set is used for retaining the hoop and hook assembly. However, the two sets may be optionally used for retaining two baskets and no hoop and hook assemblies, or two hoop and hook assemblies and no baskets.
In addition, the fixed frame, the basket, and the hoop and hook assembly are each made of metal wire elements held in position by welded joints. The individual wire elements are formed in configurations providing gains in manufacturing simplicity and efficiency. As a combination, the components of the sports equipment support rack are strong yet inexpensive to fabricate. For gaining reduced shipping costs, the sports equipment support rack is lightweight and the basket is nestable with like baskets. These and more advantages are provided by the present invention without sacrificing appearance or durability.
In accordance with the present invention, the sports equipment support rack is a combination of a fixed frame, a removable basket, and a removable hoop and hook assembly. The frame, the basket, and the hoop and hook assembly each are assemblies of selectively formed metal wires held in position by welded joints and coated in enamel.
The fixed frame is attachable to a wall and includes two C-shaped brackets laterally spaced from one another. The two C-shaped brackets have vertical rear segments anchored relative to the wall and forwardly projecting upper and lower horizontal segments. The lower horizontal segments are grouped in pairs to define slots that open forwardly. The slots enable the removable and upright support of a plurality of baseball bats because the lower horizontal segments are disposed on either side of the slot and so can underlie the knobs of the bat handles.
The spaced upper segments of the C-shaped brackets support a parallel pair of laterally extending guide segments. The guide segments have horizontal central portions providing spaced elongated surfaces for removably supporting a plurality of balls such as basketballs, soccer balls, volleyballs, and the like. The laterally spaced upper segments act as ball retainers and retain the removably supported balls therebetween. The guide segments have outer tip portions bent upwardly to form a pair of retaining hooks oppositely disposed on both lateral sides of the fixed frame. The retaining hooks are provided for releasably retaining either the basket or the hoop and hook assembly on either lateral side of the fixed frame interchangeably.
The basket is made from two sets of U-shaped wires with their respective horizontal segments fixed in a criss-cross pattern to define a grid basket bottom. The basket further includes a wire hoop extending across all of the outer ends of the U-shaped wires and welded to them to fix all those outer ends in rigid relative positions. The upper arms of the U-shaped wires define a front, a back, and two opposite side walls for the basket; and these four side walls are inclined to taper down so that the basket is nestable with other like baskets. The retaining hooks of the fixed frame act to releasably retain the basket by hooking the hoop element.
The hoop and hook assembly has a main wire that includes a middle portion forming a horizontal hoop, and outer portions bent downwardly to form L-shaped hooks. There is also a horizontal brace wire extending across and welded to the vertical stems of the L-shaped hooks. The fixed frame releasably retains the hoop and hook assembly by the action of the retaining hooks hooking the brace wire. The middle hoop portion of the main wire provides a horizontal ring portion for removably supporting a ball such as a basketball, soccer ball, volleyball, or the like.